The founder of Chobani yogurt is fast approaching his expiration date.
Hamdi Ulukaya, the charismatic Turkish immigrant who started the brand in upstate New York in 2005, is being replaced as CEO and may even be stripped of his chairman role, sources told The Post.
TPG, a private-equity firm that funneled $750 million into the company last April through a loan, is deep into a search with Chobani's board for Ulukaya's successor, even as it scrambles to recover from a devastating product recall in 2013 that some insiders blamed on the founder, sources said.
Indeed, TPG execs are still scrambling to reverse financial wreckage associated with the recall, which in the fourth quarter of 2013 spurred negative Ebitda — or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — of $87 million, according to internal documents reviewed by The Post.
Chobani's Ebitda still hasn't returned to positive territory, according to one exec, and faces more financial turmoil if it doesn't meet its 2015 targets, a source said.
"We are not close to where we need to be," the source told The Post.
Insiders pin most of the blame on the company's Idaho factory, which was responsible for the recall. Built by Ulukaya at a cost of $450 million, the facility was operating at just 20 percent of capacity in 2013, according to internal documents.
"It was apparently a bad design with a number assumptions that were not properly vetted," a source said of the factory, citing the opinion of a former exec. "It was built too rapidly. There was sloppiness in the layout and lack of training for workers."
As losses mounted, Ulukaya failed to inform other executives at the company, who continued to spend freely as if it were in growth mode, according to insiders.
"He had a number of his key executives operating in the dark," a source said of Ulukaya. "People didn't know the extent of the chaos in Idaho."
Chobani "completely disagrees with these assertions," a spokesman said in a written response.
He added, however, that the plant's giant size "brought unique challenges with respect to its design and ramp up–all of which are common elements of building a manufacturing facility of this size and scale from the ground up. The plant has been fully optimized with new and highly experienced leadership and is at full capability per the original design."
A leading candidate to replace Ulukaya, sources said, is one of the buyout firm's own executives: Kevin Burns, a turnaround guru in manufacturing who became Chobani's president and chief operating officer late last summer.
"There has not been an offer" yet from Chobani's board to Burns, according to one source close to the situation, adding that there has been a "very extensive search" with some "terrific candidates."
Burns spends "the majority" of his time working for the company despite retaining his role as an operating partner at TPG — a fact that has ruffled some feathers within the buyout firm, according to sources.
In the meantime, Ulukaya — who became a billionaire icon for entrepreneurs after reviving an abandoned Kraft factory in South Edmeston, NY, to create the business — has effectively been sidelined while Burns runs the company, according to insiders.
Ulukaya "will be involved in certain aspects on a day to day basis" once a new CEO is named, according to a source.
Reached Sunday, a Chobani spokesman said, "No decision has been made and Hamdi will make the final decision to fill this role." The spokesman likewise insisted that Ulukaya "will remain owner, founder and chairman of the board and will continue to remain very active in the company and its future."
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